If it aint broke, don't fix it!

And I can agree with that! Most of the time:) I mean, what if it just isn't quite working? Or there's a better way? Like my little library at the top of the stairs. Organized? Yes. Functional? Yes. Inviting? Yes, sorta. Sadly with the way it was, only one person could enjoy it, and that person was usually the hubby:) He would read every night, alone:(

Weeeell, enough of that!! Enter IKEA chaise lounges. They fit perfectly!!

And now we can enjoy reading TOGETHER!! I added an owl lamp that I found at a garage sale for $8, made those little stripey pillows and added some cozy blankets:) Oh, and my sis and her hubby bought us that fab map as a thank you for staying at our Cali house:) SCORE!!

Another thing that wasn't actually broken but needed a fix was our back porch light. Sorry I don't have a before pic, but here is the awesome after!!

Is that not the coolest!! The hubby made it out of scraps from our shop, and then painted and glazed it to give it the perfect rustic brownish finish. Me LOVES!!!

Sadly for now I must enjoy it from behind closed doors:( in air conditioning:( cause it's ridiculously hot:( and all my plants are dead:(

In other sort of broken news, as you read this I will be under the knife-saying goodbye to my uterus. Apparently a fibroid decided to move in and set up house. I DON'T THINK SO!! So forgive me if next weeks blog doesn't happen. Who am I kidding? It'll happen. Same bat time. Same bat channel:)

Luscious Lemon Pie.... :)

Ok blog buddies, I'm about to share with you the most yummiest of lemon pies. My mom has made this pie for YEARS:) and everyone in my fam can't ever get enough of it! It's the perfect pie for these sweltering summer days:) I finally realized the other day- hey, I better learn how to make this stinkin thing once and for all! So I called up my mommy and asked her to show me:)

For the crust:

2 pkgs of graham crackers (crushed)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 stick of melted butter

For the filling:

2 small pkgs of lemon pudding

2 eggs

4 1/2 c. water

1/2 lime

Start by crushing your graham crackers. I crushed them in a Ziploc bag, makes for easy clean up:)

Mix your crushed graham crackers, melted butter and Tbsp of sugar together and them press into your pie pan. Reserve about 1/2 cup for the topping. (look at my mom's beautiful hands:) Bake the crust in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes or until golden:)

While your crust bakes, get started on the pudding:) make it to the package directions. My mom likes to mix the eggs and dry ingredients together in the pan before adding the water and cooking, she says it keeps it from getting lumpy:) ...and it worked!

** my mom bought this pan with S & H green stamps 40 years ago. The brand is Queen, and honestly it's one haaard working lady!! Cute huh?

Now here's where my mom adds her secret:) No worries! I asked her if I could share this with all the world before I wrote this:) anyway, she adds a squeeze of a half of a lime. It adds that little bit of zest:)

Cook your pudding until all the foam (or light yellow) disappears and it gets this beautiful yellow color with that perfect pudding consistency:)

Cool both the crust and the pudding:)

When cool, pour the filling into your fabulous crust:)

Top with the reserved crust, and refrigerate.

Then take it out and try not to devour it before taking any pictures of your finished product:)

Then take a picture and send it to your sisters and tell them that YOU now know how to make THE lemon pie:)

A bird in one hand... :)

So I'm back from 11 blissful days in Cali with a tan and a few treasures. A tan being one of them. If you know me, you know I rarely get out in the sun. Anyway, while I was there I went to my fav TJ Maxx and HELLO!!! Take a look at these beauts!! My hubby was like YAY! You NEEDED some more dishes!!! I kid. Really I did need a new everyday set. My green ones were getting all chippy:(

So, I came home with 8 salad plates and 7 dinner plates. Yes 7. 7. I said 7. This goes against all that is right in my world. I ALWAYS buy in 12's! But I thought no biggie! I'll just hit another TJ and pick up the rest. I was hoping for 12 but will settle for a least 1 more dinner to round out the 8. But no. I went to 3 other TJ's and 3 Marshalls, and nothing!! I'm going to check one more TJ tomorrow and hope and hope and hope:) Because seriously? I LOVE THEM!!!

I guess I just have a thing for birds. Like my mom. My whole life I've known of my mom's love of birds. She would sing and talk to them in the yard:) And always had at least one bird feeder:)

So as I was taking this pic, I stood up and looked in my china cabinet and started laughing!!

I just realized that before I left for Cali, I found these at Tuesday Morning. A store that just so happens to be right next to my gyno and makes that little visit actually tolerable:) I guess all that Cali sun must have fried my brain!

I thought they went perf with these Villeroy & Boch polka dot plates I got from my sis in law:)

And then I had to laugh again thinking....I really am my mother:)

Tweet tweet!!

Summer Lovin....:)

So here's where I've been, and where I'll be for the rest of this beautiful week. And yes, those are my actual feet:) with the same toe rings I've been wearing for over 15 years. Yeah I know, I don't change much:) anyway, I just thought I'd share with you a few of my fav things so far this summer:)

Hemp Hearts:) My friend Jill at Nature's Finest in Mesa told me about these. And they're fab:) It's a really good natural source of protein. Just 5 Tbsp. sprinkled on your yogurt for breakfast, or I like to make a smoothie for breaky with fruit and almond yogurt and the hemp hearts replace the oatmeal I used to throw in:) yummy and especially good for you:) since stupid blogger is once again not letting me link- here's the info old school. nahanniriverherbs.com check it out:)

The Dana Point farmer's market- when I'm here, this is where I go to get the best in fruit and veggie goodness:) this trips bounty- including mango nectarines. Yes, as yummy as they sound:)

And my new fav shirt:) so soft, so comfy. It's Roxy:)

Just finished reading this- The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon. It was really good, like read it in 2 days good:)

Starting this book- A Young Wife by Pam Lewis. I bought if for the cover of course! Same way I pick my wine:) anyway I'm only on chapter 2 but it's good so far?

Oh and yes, this room. Sometimes when I'm bored I like to look at hideous real estate pictures. It's astonishing how some people let their houses be photographed! I mean, aren't they trying to sell their places. Anyway, I came across this pic and I thought- hmmm not so bad. Okay, yes it's a little Kermit, but compared to the barking coyotes, white washed oak and "southwest" crap that I usually see- it's totally workable. Take down that sin of a ceiling fan, throw out the sheers, and paint that panelling white- and voila! A space I could work with:)

Just some of what's been going on in my silly little world while enjoying a beautiful sunny 76 degrees:)

So what are your summer mindless whatnots?

The Deets... :)

So, last week sweet Julia from Hooked on Houses did a little feature about my bungalow's before and after:) I got the nicest comments! ....and a few not so nice:( Whatev. My inbox was full of questions about some of the details in my house, so here ya go!

1. Paint colors: My current fav green color is Sherwin Williams- SW 7733 Bamboo Shoot. I used this color on my kitchen cabinets and the walls in my hall bath. This sample pic makes it look brown, but as you can see in pics of my kitchen- it's a happy green:)

Martha Stewart- Mossy Rock MSL103. I used this spectacular green in my master bedroom that I posted about last week. It's both warm and cheerful at the same time:)

Benjamin Moore- AF 95 Hush. The best tanish, brownish color. This is what I used for my entire interior sans the hall bath. It's the perfect calm, beachy brown color:) and it looks fab against bright white trim:)

2. The lights- I get asked about these silly lights all.the.time!! They're from Pottery Barn, the Exeter 5 jar pendant.

And NOW they have this!! Dernit!! I hate when that happens!!

3. The master bath vanity- I purchased this piece from FOUND. My sweet friend Kristin's fab store that I ALWAYS talk about. Ok, the crappy pic doesn't show how cool this thing is. (and since blogger is being dumb and won't let me link- foundbydomesticbliss.blogspot.com is where to find her:)

Anyway, the hubby took off the top and added it to the back to make it deeper so we could put a slab of beautiful carrera marble on top for our master vanity:)

4. The $hower curtain- or curtain'$. Yeah I had to buy 2 for that $tinkin tub! Anthropologie. Ye$. Enough $aid. Lot$ of dollar$. But I only have one tub? Right??? (and there's the bamboo shoot green color)

5. My headboard- I found this at Urban Outfitters believe it or not. It's the velvet tufted headboard. You can order it online at urbanoutfitters.com. And at $349.00? I think it's a pretty good bang for your buck!

6. And those glass jars- I found them at Tuesday Morning about 3 years ago. They're so cute, but I could only find the sugar, coffee and tea. Never found the flour:( Since the words are written in French, (yet another language I took in high school and never quite paid much attention too, I can however sing frere jacques pretty good because that's how we earned extra credit and I do have the most adorable Frenchie ever...) I just choose to ignore what is written and pretend it says Flour, Sugar and Oatmeal:)

A big Thank you for spending some Tuesday time with me, your comments and emails always make me smile:)

Is that an accent...?

So this is the way the master bedroom looked up until Saturday. When we were building nearly a year ago now, we had the enormous challenge of putting air conditioning in an almost 100 year old house. This resulted in this "pop out" around the window. Hey, I didn't care. This is AZ for heaven sakes!! And the hubby LOVES him some cold air:) But that pop out business completely changed where I thought the bed should go. See, I had originally planned on the bed being on the wall to the right, but thought it might be too squished feeling. So I did what I would NEVER normally do, and put the bed under the window. Aaaaand it always bugged me!! Not to mention that the hubby was done with nightmares of that chanda crushing his scull in the middle of the night!

So Saturday morn I moved it. To the place it should have always been:) and said goodbye to the chandelier:(

Aaaaah! Soo much better!! But....blaaaah!!!! Ugh!! BORING!!!! No color. No personality. No nothing!!

So I grabbed that fab green velvet pillow from my bed, and high tailed it to Home Depot and picked me some paint. Martha Stewart's Mossy Rock to be exact:)

Now another thing I wouldn't normally do is the "accent" wall. Nope. Never.

But here I just thought it worked:)

I always say, "paint is the cheapest, easiest fix it!" Sooo glad I listen to myself:)

White trash...:)

Since moving into our home sweet home, I've hosted many a get together. I love, love, love having family and friends over:) but without fail, I always forget about one detail- the trash. The hubby always wheels out this p.o.s to my horror. EVERYTIME I say to myself, " I have got to get a better trash can!!"
And finally I did! I love the old "Oscar the grouch" look! I found mine at Home Depot for $22.98.

The hubby gave her a little sanding (while trying to ignore little bully and his relentless need to play ball) and prepped her for paint.

It took 2 cans, but maybe if you use a darker color you could get away with 1.

And here she is- all crispy white. But the black bag? HIDEOUS!! Dear garbage bag people, not all large bags have to be BLACK!! Ugh!

And it never fails that the bag ends up half in the can from the weight of the trash:(

So I got to thinkin... and I came up with this. A garbage bag scrunchie! And let me warn you, I DO NOT know how to sew. I know only the verrrry basics. I'm a figure it out kind of gal. I paid absolutely no attention in home ec:( I think I was so distracted by my teacher who wore bright red lip liner with pink frosted lipstick. NOT a good look I tell ya! Anyway... I took a scrap piece of fabric and cut it about 4-5" wide and double the length of the around of the trash can. Ugh! Sorry, I'm the worst at directions! I used a 1 1/2" piece of elastic and cut it to a little over half the around of the trash can. And then just sewed it together to make a big scrunchie:)

Then I took a large tag and sewed some ribbon around the edge for cuteness. I just scrunched it up as I went creating the ruffle:)

And here she is- with her scrunchie. It holds the bag secure and hides the ugly black edge:)

The finished product! Soooo much cuter doncha think?!

A close up of the tag:)

I made a recycle tag too, cause if your parties are at all like mine- this one will end up more full;)

One morning I was emptying my trash from the night before and cringing at the sound that all the bottles were making so early in the morning, and then I laughed remembering how my neighbor said that when she hears that sound she thinks -it must have been a good one!!

**I'm linking up to these sweet parties!

A bowl full of lemons

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Savvy Southern Style-wow us Wednesday